Police Log: Prowler, Thief, Hit-Run Drivers Nabbed

The following are significant crime and incidents reported in Newark between Jan. 20 and 26 as released by the Newark Police Department.

Sunday, Jan. 26

• Theft at a mall kiosk was reported at noon. Jewelry and leather belts were stolen at approximately 7 a.m., according to mall video surveillance of the theft. 

• Cop finds kiosk thief! At 2 p.m., an officer spotted a female with a backpack walking on Cedar Court -- who matched the theft suspect in a mall video surveillance. The officer stopped the 30-year-old, who was on searchable probation, and found inside her backpack stolen items from the mall theft,  two crack pipes and two checks (one out of Reno and the other from San Francisco). Investigation shows the San Francisco check was stolen out of a vehicle in Oakland, and the Reno check was stolen out of a Reno residence. 

• Hit-and-run driver 'fesses up. A hit-and-run was reported at 6:23 p.m. by a witness who obtained the vehicle's license number. Police proceeded to Fremont to speak with the registered owner  -- a 38-year-old man, who admitted to being involved in the collision and fleeing the scene. A records check revealed he had a suspended license and required an interlock device on his vehicle due to a previous DUI conviction. He was arrested for hit-and-run, driving with a suspended license and without the required device.

• Sort-of-carjacking at mall. At 11:30 a.m. police were called by mall security for a possible carjacking. The victim said she was stopped at the mall when a woman jumped in her vehicle and told her to go. The victim said she let the woman in thinking she was a possible domestic violence victim, then drove approximately 200 yards before she saw security chasing them and ordered the woman to get out which she did. Officers checked the rear of old movie theater and then headed to the canal into Fremont where they saw the possible carjacking suspect -- who was 35, with two felony arrest warrants and was arrested for trespassing. The carjacking was unfounded. The arrestee then led police to two subjects spray painting a canal wall. One, 18, was arrested for vandalism. 

• Five cars were burglarized in the Buena Vista Drive area. All five vehicles were of different makes, were locked and all alarmed. There were no signs of forced entry on any and none of the alarms were activated.

• Power to a large area of Newark was disrupted after a utility pole was toppled at 1 p.m. by a motorist near the intersection of Haley Street and Jarvis Avenue. 

• A hit-and-run was reported after a car struck a fire hydrant at 4:18 p.m. at Cedar Boulevard at Britney Avenue.

• An overnight bag and speaker box were stolen in a vehicle smash-and-grab on the 36500 block of Lakewood Drive. 

• Anny's Restaurant on Central Avenue was burglarized. The break-in, logged at 2 p.m., was through a window; losses not yet tabulated.

• Newark Resident Given Relative's Posthumous Honor.

• "High risk" manhunt. The Major Crimes Task Force and the Newark/Union City SWAT team collaborated at 6:30 a.m. for a "high risk" search and arrest on the 6200 block of Cotton Avenue of a male, 28, for an outstanding Ramey warrant. Story here.

• Garage prowler. A Merion Drive resident called police at 4 p.m. to report a suspicious subject inside his garage. Officers later found a Fremont male, 33, in the area of Crestmont Drive, who was identified in a line-up and arrested for prowling and a warrant. Another garage prowler story here.

• Reminder: Cops don't like fake names. Police were called at 8 p.m. to investigate two men drinking behind Jacque’s Bar on Thornton Avenue. One subject, a 49-year-old Newark man, was arrested for public intoxication. His buddy, meanwhile, thought he had a warrant, so to avoid arrest played the "name game" with officers. Turns out he did not, and the male -- finally identified as 48 from Palo Alto -- was arrested for public intoxication and giving false information to police. 

• BART Officer Killed by Single Shot to Chest.

• Truck Fire Closed Street in Newark.

• High man walking. A Union City male, 46, was stopped at 11:15 a.m. and arrested for suspicion of being under the influence of drugs. 

• A Newark woman, 31, was cited for suspected hit-and-run at 9 a.m. on Spruce Court for a collision that occurred the previous night. 

• Break-ins at coffee shop, liquor store. Burglars broke into S&J Coffee Shop on Central Avenue by breaking a plate glass window. Neighboring business Central Food and Liquor was also burglarized. the crimes were reported at 7:28 a.m.